The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas
The Sunbearer Duology #1
(2022) 352 pages

Final Rating: 6/10

Blurb:
“Only the most powerful and honorable semidioses get chosen. I’m just a Jade. I’m not a real hero.”

As each new decade begins, the Sun’s power must be replenished so that Sol can keep traveling along the sky and keep the evil Obsidian gods at bay. Ten semidioses between the ages of thirteen and eighteen are selected by Sol himself as the most worthy to compete in The Sunbearer Trials. The winner carries light and life to all the temples of Reino del Sol, but the loser has the greatest honor of all―they will be sacrificed to Sol, their body used to fuel the Sun Stones that will protect the people of Reino del Sol for the next ten years.

Teo, a 17-year-old Jade semidiós and the trans son of Quetzal, goddess of birds, has never worried about the Trials…or rather, he’s only worried for others. His best friend Niya―daughter of Tierra, the god of earth―is one of the strongest heroes of their generation and is much too likely to be chosen this year. He also can’t help but worry (reluctantly, and under protest) for Aurelio, a powerful Gold semidiós and Teo’s friend-turned-rival who is a shoo-in for the Trials. Teo wouldn’t mind taking Aurelio down a notch or two, but a one-in-ten chance of death is a bit too close for Teo’s taste.

But then, for the first time in over a century, Sol chooses a semidiós who isn’t a Gold. In fact, he chooses two: Xio, the 13-year-old child of Mala Suerte, god of bad luck, and…Teo. Now they must compete in five mysterious trials, against opponents who are both more powerful and better trained, for fame, glory, and their own survival.

Review:
This is the second book I’ve read by Aiden Thomas, and I must say, they know how to build a world and how to make characters feel real and likable, but they struggle in a lot of other areas in terms of writing.

My absolute favorite part of this book is the characters. They just love how diverse they are. Out of the ten chosen semidioses, three are transgender, one is nonbinary, one is deaf and uses sign language throughout the book, and I’m pretty sure all of them are queer. They are also all of Mexican descent, and their gender identity, sexuality, or disabilities is not questioned or judged at any moment. Even the most horrible characters have their pronouns respected because, at the end of the day, we all deserve human rights. For sure, you can call them jerks or idiots, but their sexual orientation or pronouns have nothing to do with their character, so those remain respected.

My second favorite part of this book is the world-building because Thomas has done a fantastic job at it. Immediately, the supernatural rules of this book and the mythology are explained as the main character, Teo, goes on his adventure. The world is full of mortals, semidioses, and dioses that live together in different ways depending on the diose city they live in, which demonstrates how much thought and complexity goes into this world.

But I gotta say, Teo had a lot of luck and good fortune that went into his results in the Sunbearer Trials because, without his friends or Aurelio, he would not be where he is now. Teo made some really stupid mistakes sometimes that made me visibly cringe. I love complicated and flawed characters, but Teo was just so lucky, too lucky, that it made me lose any admiration for his character. I think he was really interesting at the beginning, but he just got more unlikeable throughout the book, becoming more stubborn and closed-minded. His development as a character was minimal, and I think he was mostly there for the comedy.

There were also a lot of mistakes that could’ve been fixed while editing, such as pronoun mistakes for a nonbinary character, which really threw me off. It happened more than once too. I’ve heard that it’s because originally that character was supposed to go by he/they before Thomas changed it to they/them, so I won’t get too iffy about it. However, the writing was geniunely sloppy in a lot of areas, decreasing the immersion while reading. Especially during the ending, where I found myself skimming through the final trial, which is supposed to be the scene where I’m most engaged.

The ending was also like every cliche hero ending ever, the characters getting ready for a new quest. I think I just got more dissatisfied as the book went on.